Book Review: The Page Turners: Economy of Fear (The Page Turners Trilogy) (Volume 2) by Kevin T. Johns

The Page Turners: Economy of Fear (The Page Turners Trilogy) (Volume 2)
by Kevin T. Johns
Publisher: Cat and Bean Publishing, Ottawa, Canada.
ISBN: 978-0-9920041-6-3

AISN: 978-0-9920041-7-0
July 6, 2015.
After discovering a book of magic hidden in their high school library, The Page Turners book club members -- Nate, Danny, and Spenser -- performed a spell that accidentally released a vampire from the pages of fiction into the real world.

With the indispensable help of Danny’s little sister, Diana, The Page Turners were able to put a stop to the vampire, but when Spenser disappears from his bedroom in the dead of night, and a giant crop circle in the field behind his house is the only evidence as to where he has gone, the group realizes the vampire might not have been the only fictional monster released by their spell.

Science-fiction, fantasy, and horror intermingle in The Page Turners: Economy of Fear, the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed young adult hit, The Page Turners: Blood.

Amazon Paperback-Kindle-Kobo

In this sequel to The Page Turners, the Page Turners book club members, Nate, Danny, and Spencer have a new adventure. Spenser, whose book was the nonfiction book about alien abductions, is abducted by the aliens and taken on their spaceship to their planet. He meets a teenage girl kept in another room who has been held by the aliens for a long time. They grow close. Now he must convince her to escape with him and an alien. Meanwhile, back on earth, Danny and Danny’s sister are battling more vampires, while Nate is taken under wing by a man who teaches him magic, as they take off on the road.

This time around it seems to have not only Spenser’s book, but still vampires from the first book, and it is obvious that Nate’s tale is coming into play. More so, the three friends’ friendship is being torn apart. Though muddled with having two of the boys’ books coming to life, while Danny’s hasn’t ended as we thought with the first book, I did like the story. Though I hope the last book in the trilogy will stick to Nate’s story. If you enjoy YA and like to read science fiction, fantasy and horror, this second book in the trilogy combines it all.

Book Review: The Page Turners: Blood (book 1)

I give The Page Turners: Economy of Fear

4 sheep (abducted by aliens)

Pamela K. Kinney

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
amazon buy link
As we release the first two novels in the trilogy in the coming months, this website will be your source for news, interviews, press, and behind the scenes peeks at the creative process.

I’m eager to hear from YOU, the readers of the trilogy, and there are a lot of way you can get in touch with me. You can follow me on Twitter at @kevin_t_johns, find me on Facebook, or use the contact form below to email me directly.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have about The Page Turners Trilogy, the writing process, or my experiences with independent publishing.

I hold degrees in film studies and English literature, and I love a wide variety of narratives in a multitude of genre and formats. I’m also interested in hockey, weightlifting and fitness, as well as nutrition, particularly low-carb and Paleo eating. I live in Ottawa, Canada.

I look forward to hearing from you!

The Joy of Collaboration: Why Writer’s Should Work with Other Artists by Kevin T. Johns + giveaway

The Joy of Collaboration: Why Writer’s Should Work with Other Artists 

By Kevin T. Johns

Writing a novel is a lonely endeavor.

It means hours spent alone, staring at the glow of the computer screen, with no noise in the room other than the ghostly clickity-clack of fingers against a keyboard.

In my writing workshop, The Novel Writer's Blueprint, I compare writing a book to running a marathon, and I consider it an extremely apt metaphor.

Writing a book lacks the spontaneity of poetry, and the exuberant discovery of writing a song or producing a painting. It is a long grueling haul with nothing to keep you going through to the end other than your own dedication to the craft.

That’s why it is such a pleasure when a writer finally gets an opportunity to collaborate with other artists.

Writers are often obsessive about controlling every aspect of their work. Some even fear their unique "voice" will be lost if others are allowed to contribute.

In my experience, this couldn't be further from the truth.

Collaborating with other artists produced some of the most enjoyable experiences in the creation of my young adult horror novel, The Page Turners.

check out our review of The Page Turners: Blood

When I called up Melanie Shields, a photographer who happened to live close to me in Ottawa, Canada, and enquired about getting my author photo taken, she asked what I was looking. I told her I wanted the picture to look like a cover for Men's Health magazine.

(I know it's not the tradition author image, but I've long wanted to be a Men's Health cover model, and this is as close as I'm ever going to get, damn it!)

The result?

Boom! 

Throw Men's Health across the top, and some B.S. headlines like “How to Get Six-Pack Abs in 15 Seconds a Day, While Still Eating Poutine!” and you've got your average issue of the magazine right there. 

Pretty cool.

Now, The Page Turners takes place in a small town, and during the crafting of the novel, I ended up drawing a map to help me keep the town organized geographically.

Here's the map:

When I shared this map with my editor, F. A. Sumner, he asked if I would mind if he took a crack at drafting something a little more polished for possible inclusion in the novel. I figured, what the heck, go for it.

Here's what he came back with:

Adam's beautiful and detailed maps now take up the first six pages of the book. The maps add a wonderful level of realism to my fictional town, which readers have told me they absolutely love.

Now listen, don't ever let someone tell you people don't judge a book by its cover. They do. They absolutely do. That's why I consider myself super lucky to have worked with amazing cover designer, Kit Foster.

I sent Kit a number of potential cover ideas for The Page Turners, including the following description: Concept B - Playing with the idea of fiction come to life. An open book, with a scary looking hand coming up out of the text; the paper of the page is all stretchy and the words appear across the hand like skin, ala the girl coming out of the TV in The Ring or any number of ghosts pressing out of walls in ghost movies.

I attached this sketch:

What did Kit come back with?

This:

I've got to tell you, seeing that book cover for the first time was one of the most exciting parts of the whole novel writing process.

So yes, writing a novel can be an exhausting and solitary effort, but working with other talented artists can reinvigorate a writer's energy and bring new aspects to the project that can raise the book to whole new levels of quality.

If you want to see how all these different collaborative elements came together in the final product, make sure you get your copy of The Page Turners in paperback or ebook today.

Kevin T. Johns is the author of The Page Turners and creator of The Novel Writer’s Blueprint: Five Steps to Creating and Completing Your First Book

GIVEAWAY

a print copy of The Page Turners

(international)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Page Turners: Blood by Kevin T. Johns

The Page Turners: Blood
by Kevin T. Johns
Publisher: Cat and Bean Publishing, Ottawa, Canada.
YA Paranormal Horror
November 2013

From author Kevin T. Johns comes the novel critics are describing as "a crimson-stained love letter to genre fiction" and the first book in a "must read" series.

Nate Bourdain and his friends are thrilled to discover an ancient book of magic spells hidden in their school library--they now have the means to stand up to the villains who make high-school life such a battle. But, when the book's dark magic releases a fictional killer into the real world, the teens must prove they have what it takes to be heroes, or fall as bloody victims in their own horror story turned real.

The Page Turners: Blood is the first book in the Page Turners trilogy: a genre-spanning series sure to please young adult fans of paranormal horror, science-fiction, and fantasy.

Each of the teens seem realistic to me, as a mother who remembers my son and his friends as teenagers. Nate seems to have issues that are unresolved, and refuses to talk about them or his mother’s death when one counselor broaches the subject. I suspect that whoever left the book of dark magic in the library knew of his unresolved anger and knew that he would be the prime subject to speak the spell to awaken the darkness within. Surprisingly to me, it is not Nate’s book, or frightened Spencer’s that is the first book, but Danny’s vampire character, Valande, from the Dark Wedding series. This is a vampire that can never be destroyed, but lives on book after book to plague men and their brides. And Valande does just that in the female classmate Danny becomes interested in and who lives near him.

The author brings to life a small town, its various inhabitants, the high school and the three main characters. He also shows, just as in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that monsters aren’t always just the fictional ones, and sometimes adults are not monsters either, but have their own issues and problems. I am hoping Nate and his friends will learn this by the last book. The cover is super. And I admit, the author has me waiting for the next book in the series.

4 sheep

Pamela K. Kinney
Website Blog Facebook
aka Sapphire Phelan
Website Newsletter Facebook

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
amazon buy link
As we release the first two novels in the trilogy in the coming months, this website will be your source for news, interviews, press, and behind the scenes peeks at the creative process.

I’m eager to hear from YOU, the readers of the trilogy, and there are a lot of way you can get in touch with me. You can follow me on Twitter at @kevin_t_johns, find me on Facebook, or use the contact form below to email me directly.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have about The Page Turners Trilogy, the writing process, or my experiences with independent publishing.

I hold degrees in film studies and English literature, and I love a wide variety of narratives in a multitude of genre and formats. I’m also interested in hockey, weightlifting and fitness, as well as nutrition, particularly low-carb and Paleo eating. I live in Ottawa, Canada.

I look forward to hearing from you!